Oñate High student brings gun to school

LAS CRUCES — An Oñate High student carried a loaded revolver to school in his backpack recently in an attempt to protect himself from the threats of another student he described as a gang member, a police report says.

According to the report filed by the Oñate school resource officer, assistant principal Christine Mullins witnessed the student playing with a lighter on Nov. 30. When Mullins confronted the student, he admitted also to having a cigar, so she searched his backpack. That's when she found what the officer described a Smith & Wesson .38 Special Springfield Revolver.

Upon further inspection, the officer found the brown-and-black handgun to be loaded with six rounds.

According to the police report, the student said he found the gun in the desert near his house: it was in a shoe box with $25 in gold one-dollar coins. The officer reported the revolver came back clear on a check through central dispatch.

During questioning, the student reportedly told the officer that he brought the gun to school because, the day before, a gang member wanted to fight the student. The student said the gang member told him if they didn't fight that the gang member would "bring a gun to take care of him," the report said. The student added that he wasn't "going to let this guy shoot and kill him."

The officer then transported the student to the juvenile detention center.

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Doña Ana County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Kelly Jameson said there was no record of the student being booked to either the juvenile or adult detention center.

His family could not be reached. An official at the parole and probation office declined to discuss any case involving juveniles, citing state laws.

Las Cruces Public Schools spokeswoman Jo Galván declined to discuss the status of the student, citing the district's privacy policy.

She added that each case is looked at individually, but that "there aren't very many cases where a kid has a weapon and not a suspension." With gun cases, which she said are rare, the likelihood of long-term suspension is "99.9 percent."

In those cases, school officials hold a hearing to further examine the facts.

A call to Oñate principal David Day was not returned Wednesday. It's not clear if any other students were disciplined in events surrounding this case.

"We're taking a pretty serious attitude toward weapons," Galván said.

LCPS security coordinator Todd Gregory said he could not recall any other incidents of students bringing guns to any school this year.

Gregory would not speculate whether this case was gang related, though he did acknowledge that "you always see a little bit (of gang activity) throughout the school year." That could be, he said, anything as small as a gang-related dress code violation to violence.

"It hasn't been as bad as in other years," Gregory said.

He added that "security guards are very proactive to keep that environment safe all the time. Everybody has that duty, all the staff members."

Gregory said teachers and administrators usually know which students have gang ties.

Galván said parents are part of the system.

"Parents need to be aware of their child's friends, and what they have in their backpack ... They need to have good conversations with their kids after school every day."

James Staley may be reached at 575-541-5476. Follow him on Twitter @auguststaley